Social Resilience as Response to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: An Ignored Phenomenon

Much of the literature on conflict-related sexual violence emphasizes that victims and their families face stigmatization and social exclusion within their communities. However, these accounts are largely based on small convenience samples that (potentially) suffer from selection bias. This bias arises because most researchers select their respondents through psychosocial and medical support facilities or nongovernmental organizations. This selection procedure creates a narrative of de-politicized, passive victims, families and communities where only international NGOs hold the recipes for healing and reconciliation. Unfortunately, there has been hardly any reflection on this problem. Based on a population-based survey I show that CRSV-affected households are more generous in donations and more socially engaged than unaffected households. While these results do not put into question the suffering, they challenge the popular notion of the passive victims and suggest that CRSV victims are more resilient than commonly assumed. In this paper, I present qualitative accounts from several in-depth interviews with ‘resilient’ CRSV victims and families. Several themes emerge from the material. First, much depends on the individual perception of CRSV victimization, i.e. do people perceive it as punishment for personal wrong-doing or rather related to the overall conditions of war, conflict and impunity. Second, resilient respondents tend to have a strong social safety net. While this social network is not necessarily large in numbers, the quality of relations, trust and reliance offer more support to deal with trauma. Third, support by humanitarian agencies has helped ‘resilient’ victims to create a “community of sufferers” and thereby take agency and a stand against discrimination within their communities. These findings provide new evidence on how victims, families and communities ‘organically’ deal with the trauma and suffering of CRSV. This article does not only provide a fresh view on the social consequences of CRSV, it also contributes to the growing literature on resilience in the context of (post-) conflict countries and thereby emphasizes that victims and their families take agency to have their voices heard.